Distributor for disks



ug- 1964 c. BONSIGNORE DISTRIBUTOR FOR DIsKs 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 1, 1962 INVENTOR. KYA/PAES yams/sway! BY 722M fimuzfiw United States Patent 3,145,827 DISTRIBUTOR FOR DISKS Charles Bonsignore, Queens Village, N.Y., assignor to Emsig Manufacturing Company, New York, N.Y., a partnership Filed Feb. 1, 1962, Ser. No. 170,460 6 Claims. (Cl. 198-33) This invention relates generally to the art of article sorting and drive couplings, and more particularly is related to an improved powerized article sorting device having novel coupling means which greatly improves the efliciency of the device. Still more particularly, this invention relates to a sorting device having an anti-jam drive coupling which automatically clears articles that have become wedged or jammed in the device, the drive coupling also preventing the application of undue stresses to the sorting device.

Still more particularly, this invention relates to an improved button orienting hopper for introducing into a chute leading from the hopper, buttons in selected faceoriented condition. The hopper is charged with a bulk supply of haphazardly disposed buttons and includes a selector device which permits passage to the chute of buttons in a particular face orientation, while blocking or retaining within the hopper buttons not oriented as desired.

This application is a continuation-in-part of copending application Serial No. 139,434, filed September 20, 1961, and while the invention herein is illustrated as used in conjunction with a hopper construction in accordance with the above noted application, it should be understood that the invention should not be construed as limited to use with such device or, for that matter, to use in conjunction with article sorting devices as a class.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a drive coupling for use in conjunction with a device as exemplified by an article sorter or the like.

A further object of this invention is the provision of an improved article sorting apparatus, such as a button orienting device, having anti-jam mechanism for automatically clearing jams as they may occur.

Still a further object of this invention is the provision of an article sorter which includes a torque release coupler forming a driving conection between powerized means and an article engaging member, said coupler, when the article engaging member encounters a load of a predetermined magnitude, serving sequentially to decouple the means and member and then to impart an increment of reverse rotation to the member.

Still a further object of this invention is the provision of a button orienting hopper having a distributor disk normally rotated in a selected direction, and including button receiver pockets which are positioned to be shifted adjacent an exit portion, said disk being linked to means for rotating the latter through a novel torque release coupling effective, upon the occurrence of a jam within the hopper, as might occur if a button became wedged between a pocket and the exit portion, to inhibit rotation of said disk in said selected direction, and to impart a temporary increment of reverse rotation to said disk, whereby the jammed or wedged button may be positively cleared to permit continued normal operation of the hopper.

To attain these objects and such further objects as may appear herein or be hereinafter pointed out, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a hopper embodying the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a button suitable for use in the hopper of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical section taken on the line 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a magnified section taken on the line 4-4 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary section of the button hopper taken on the line 5--5 of FIGURE 4, with parts broken away to show details of construction;

FIGURES 6 and 7 are side elevational views of the torque release assembly, with certain parts being shown in section for clarity of illustration, said figures illustrating the position of the parts, respectively, at the released and retracting positions of the release assembly;

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary section through the hopper exit or trap portion.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the hopper construction per se is substantially in accordance with the construction of the aforesaid copending application and will not be here redescribed in detail except to the extent necessary for an understanding of the present invention.

A hopper 10, supported on a standard (not shown), may be charged with a load of haphazardly disposed buttons, as exemplified by the button B illustrated in FIGURES 2 and 3. As seen from FIGURES 2 and 3, the button B, in connection with which the present embodiment is illustrated, has an upper concave face X and a lower fiat or convex face Y, it being the function of the hopper to introduce into the chute 11 buttons in face up orientation. Buttons may be loaded into the hopper through a top door portion 12.

A motor and speed reducer assembly 13 is bolted or otherwise secured beneath the floor 14 of the hopper, the output of the assembly 13 being linked by suitable means, such as a belt and pulley drive (not shown) to rotate shaft 15 journalled in the floor 14 of the hopper. The shaft 15 is preferably rotated at a slow speed, such as about four revolutions per minute. The shaft 15 is threaded at its upper end 16, which extends within the hopper 10.

A distributor plate 20 is disposed in close adjacency with the floor 14, the plate 20 being substantially cirE-{ cular in plan and having its outer periphery conforming closely with the floor 14 of the hopper. The plate 20 is centrally apertured at 21, the shaft 15 passing through aperture 21, said aperture providing sufiicient clearance to permit rotation of the shaft 15 relative to plate 20.

A drive assembly 30, hereinafter described, releasibly couples plate 20 with shaft 15, causing the plate normally to rotate with the shaft. The plate 20, as best seen in FIGURE 5, is provided with button engaging pockets 22 adjacent the periphery thereof. The hopper 10 is formed with a discharge exit or trap 23 adjacent the low point of the hopper. A gauging pin 24 is adjustably threaded into the trap 23, partially to block the trap.

As the plate 20 is rotated, the pockets 22 are gradually occupied by buttons B. As the filled pockets pass the trap or exit 23, the button adjacent the trap 23 slides downwardly or into the trap area, at which point the button which is properly oriented (top or X face up) will pass beneath the gauge pin 24 (see FIGURE 8). Buttons which are improperly oriented (Y face up) will be blocked from proceeding through the trap 23 to the chute 11 by the gauge pin 24 (FIGURES 4 and 5) and will, in the normal course of operation, be carried beyond thet rap area by the trailing wall or face 22a of the pocket members 22, which roll the button free and beyond the pin.

In certain instances, however, the button B may become lodged between pin 24 and trailing wall 22a of the pocket portion 22 at a balanced or equilibrium position, and further rotary movement of the plate 20 is prevented. In the device of the copending application, the shaft 15 was driven by a slip belt, and while the latter effectively prevented damage to the hopper apparatus when rotation of the plate 20 was impeded, it was necessary with such apparatus manually to release the jammed button. Also, the use of a slip belt tended to maintain the button in jammed position through the application of a constant torque to the distributor disk. Since the trap area of the button might be covered by several layers of buttons, the presence of a jam might be first detected by the absence of a continuous button supply in the chute.

In the present device, the novel torque transmitting drive assembly 30 clears jammed buttons automatically by not only relieving the jammed button of the pressure of disk or plate 20, but by also reversely rotating the disk, positively to dislodge the button, and thereafter readvancing the disk to continue the normal operation of the hopper.

A drive element 31, having a threaded aperture 32, is threaded over the end 16 of the shaft 15. A lock nut 33 is also threaded to shaft 15 to prevent rotation of the element 31 with respect to the shaft. A tubular housing member 34 is made fast to the drive element 31. A detent 35 is slidably received within the housing 34, a drive tip 36 of the detent 35 being yieldably projected beneath the element 31 through aperture 31a by a compression coil spring 37, the ends of which are biased against a collar 38 formed on the detent 35 and a threaded plug 39 adjustably secured within the upper end 40 of housing 34. The collar 38 engages a restricted lower end 41 of housing 34 to limit downward movement of the detent relative to the housing.

The disk 20 is driven by the engagement of the tip 36 of detent 35 forming a drive element with toothed member 50, forming a driven element and generally resembling a ratchet wheel, carried by the disk 20. As best seen in FIGURES 6 and 7, the wheel 50 includes upstanding tooth portions 51, having gradually sloped leading face portions 52, relatively steeply pitched trailing face portions 53, the pitched portions 52, 53 being preferably separated by a generally fiat dwell face or segment 54. As best shown in FIGURE 5, the teeth 51 are arranged in a circle.

The driving tip 36 of detent 35 is provided with leading and trailing cam faces 36a, 36b, respectively, which faces are optionally but preferably inclined or pitched for providing camming surfaces having an angle or pitch equalling the pitch of faces 52, 53, respectively, of teeth 51. As best seen in FIGURES 6 and 7, the leading faces 52 and 36a of the teeth and detent, respectively, provide a relatively gradual slope, while the trailing faces 36b and 53 provide a relatively steep slope.

In the normal operation of the hopper, a bulk supply of buttons, such as illustrated in FIGURES 2 and 3, is charged into the hopper through loading door 12. The motor and speed reducer assembly 13 drive shaft 15 at a relatively slow speed in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in FIGURE 1.

The leading face 36a of detent 35 lies adjacent and in driving connection with the leading face 52 of one of the toothed members 51 of driven element 50, the spring 37 maintaining the driving parts in contact. The distributor disk 20, which is made fast to driven element 50, thus rotates with shaft 15 and driving element 31. As the disk 20 is rotated, the pockets 22 are gradually filled by buttons B which may be in either face up or face down orientation. The seating or positioning of the buttons in the pockets is aided by a wiper member 60 (FIGURE 1) which is fixed to the hopper with its lower edge lying adjacent plate 20, thereby to stratify or wipe the lowermost layer of buttons to induce them to lie flat, whereupon they may enter the pockets with the downwardly disposed faces lying adjacent the inner surface of the floor 14 of the hopper.

As the plate 20 rotates, the pockets 22 are sequentially shifted adjacent the trap or exit 23 adjacent the low point of the hopper floor. Buttons in the pocket adjacent the trap are thus gravitationally slid into the trap, whereupon 4 buttons having their top (X) face upwardly disposed will pass beneath gauge pin 24 and to the chute (FIGURE 8) and buttons with their lower (Y) face up, will be blocked (FIGURE 4) by said gauge pin.

Normally, a blocked button will be rolled or carried clear of the trap or exit area by the trailing shoulder 22a of the pockets 22. However, as shown in FIGURE 5 (dot and dash lines), in some instances a button may lie against pin 24 in such position that the trailing shoulder 22a cannot roll or carry the button clear of the trap area, whereupon further rotation of plate 20 will be prevented. At this point, the drag on plate 20 will have exceeded a selected level (which may be adjustably determined by varying the pressure exerted by the threaded adjustment cap 39 against spring 37). The leading or drive face 36a of detent 35 will be cammed upwardly or shifted linearly away from plate 20 by its engagement with the nowstationary leading face 52 of driven element 50. The spring 37 will, by the camming movement aforesaid, be cocked or further compressed. The detent 35 which continues to rotate with shaft 15 and will reach the upper limit of face 52, will thereupon traverse the dwell or flat 54 (FIGURE 6), forming the top surface of tooth members 51 and will thereafter be forceably thrust or projected downwardly (FIGURE 7). In the course of such downward projected movement, the trailing faces 36b and 53 of the detent 35 and tooth member 51, respectively, will be in engagement, the spring 37 causing face 36b to scan or slide over face 53.

Although the detent continues to be rotated slowly in its circular path, the downward movement of the detent under the influence of spring 37 is exceedingly rapid, causing a swift scanning of face 53 by face 36b, the pitch of these faces being such as to exert a rearward camming influence against the driven element 50 and plate 20, thus to impart an increment of retrograde or reverse rotary movement to the plate 20. The reverse movement is continued until the detent 35 reaches its downward limiting position.

It will be readily recognized that one effect of the temporary retrograde movement of plate 20 is temporarily to release the jammed button from contact with that portion of plate 20 which had urged and maintained the button in jammed position. Also, dependent upon the relative size and position of the pocket and the button, the

leading wall 221) of the pocket may jar the button positively, to dislodge the latter from jammed position.

The detent 35, following completion of its downward movement, engages the next succeeding tooth member, the leading face 36a of the detent forming a driving connection with leading face 52 of said next tooth. Such engagement will again couple plate 20 and shaft 15, whereupon the released or dislodged button will be rolled or carried clear of the trap area and normal operation of the device may continue.

While the salient feature of the invention lies in the combination of a coupler device capable of automatically inducing retrograde movement in a driven device, there are various design features which combine to improve the performance of the device. In this connection it is to be noted that by providing a relatively shallow or gradual drive angle, a high mechanical advantage may be secured whereby a heavy detent actuator spring may be cocked by relatively low drag on the distributor plate. The use of a heavy spring is desirable in inititating and maximizing the retrograde movement aforesaid.

A further desirable feature lies in the provision of a fiat or dwell area interposed between the drive and release cam faces of the tooth portions of the device. This feature maximizes the induced retrograde movement by assuring that the entire downward movement of the detent will be effected while the reverse-motion inducing faces of the tooth and detent are in contact. While the beneficial effects may be achieved, in a measure, without the flat or dwell portion, it will be recognized that in the absence of such a portion, the detent, particularly in a device rotated at a somewhat greater speed than the one here involved, may till be travelling upward while the reverse-motion inducing faces are in registry, without immediate contact being made between such faces.

The quantum of retrograde movement imparted to the plate will be a function of the extent of the horizontal components of the trailing faces of the detent and tooth. It will be understood that the camming function may be carried out by cam faces formed solely on the driving or driven elements, that either the driving or driven element or both may be spring projected and that the driving force may be applied to either element, the other element then forming the driven element to be fixed to the work or distributor plate.

It will be noted that the benefits of the invention are realized where the driven element has relatively low inertia and mass characteristics, since the application of retrograde movement to a high mass driven mechanism normally would require specialized apparatus. The distributor plate of a button hopper is an example of the type of device best suited for use, since the same is driven at relatively slow speeds and is of relatively low mass. However, the illustrated embodiment is to be taken merely as an example of an application of the invention and the same is to be broadly construed within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention and illustrated its use, what is claimed as new and is desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A self clearing distributor device for separating articles from a bulk supply including, in combination, a hopper having an exit portion, a distributor member mounted in said hopper for rotation adjacent said exit portion, a rotating powerized member, and means releasibly coupling said distributing member and powerized member comprising a driver element operatively associated with said rotating member, a driven element operatively associated with said distributor member, spring means urging said driving element toward said driven element, cooperative drive faces on said driving and driven elements sloped to shift said elements axially apart when said driven element encounters resistance exceeding a predetermined amount, cooperative release faces on said driving and driven elements in proximate trailing position with respect to said cooperative drive faces, said release faces being pitched to induce counterrotative movement to said driven element when said driver and driven elements are shifted toward each other with said release faces in engagement.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1 wherein one of said elements includes toothed portions arranged in a circular path and said other element comprises a detent normally projected by said spring means into said path of said teeth.

3. A device in accordance with claim 2 wherein said drive faces of said driven element comprise one side of said toothed portions and said release faces of said driven element comprise the opposite side faces of said toothed portions, and said toothed portions include a generally fiat dwell surface disposed between said drive and release faces.

4. A device for orienting buttons or like articles comprising a hopper having an exit portion, a distributor disk rotatably mounted in said hoper, rotary drive means on said hopper, torque release means normally coupling said drive means and said distributor disk and decoupling said drive means and disk when the drag on said disk exceeds a predetermined level, and spring powered reactor means actuated by decoupling of said torque release means, eifective to rotate said disk in reverse direction to the direction of rotation of said drive means upon decoupling of said release means.

5. A device for face orienting buttons or like articles having non-symmetrical faces comprising a hopper having an exit portion, a trap adjacent said exit portion dimensioned to permit passage through said trap to said exit of buttons of selected face orientation and to block buttons in non-selected orientation, a distributor disk rotatably mounted in said hopper, button engaging portions on said disk shiftable adjacent said trap portion,

rotary drive means on said hopper, torque release means normally coupling said drive means and said distributor disk and decoupling said drive means and disk when the drag on said disk exceeds a selected level, and spring powered reactor means cocked by decoupling of said torque release means effective to rotate said disk in re verse direction to the direction of rotation of said drive means, upon decoupling of said torque release means.

6. A device for face orienting buttons or like articles having non-symmetrical faces comprising a hopper having an exit portion, a trap adjacent said exit portion dimensioned to permit passage through said trap to said exit of buttons of selected face orientation and to block buttons in non-selected orientation, a distributor disk rotatably mounted in said hopper, button engaging portions on said disk shiftable adjacent said trap portion, rotary drive means on said hopper, torque release means normally coupling said drive means and said distributor disk, first cooperative cam and follower faces on said release means normally positioned in driving engagement and shiftable linearly when the drag on said disk exceeds a selected level, spring means cocked by the linear shifting movement aforesaid, said cooperative cam and follower faces on said release means shiftable into engagement by said cocked spring means, said second cam and follower faces being pitched to rotate said disk in a direction reverse to the normal direction of rotation when engaged and shifted axially by said pring means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 954,774- Beard Apr. 12, 1910 2,433,561 Angeli Dec. 30, 1947 2,889,075 Lupo June 2, 1959 

1. A SELF CLEARING DISTRIBUTOR DEVICE FOR SEPARATING ARTICLES FROM A BLUK SUPPLY INCLUDING, IN COMBINATION, A HOPPER HAVING AN EXIT PORTION, A DISTRIBUTOR MEMBER MOUNTED IN SAID HOPPER FOR ROTATION ADJACENT SAID EXIT PORTION, A ROTATING POWERIZED MEMBER, AND MEANS RELEASIBLY COUPLING SAID DISTRIBUTING MEMBER AND POWERIZED MEMBER COMPRISING A DRIVER ELEMENT OPERATIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH SAID ROTATING MEMBER, A DRIVEN ELEMENT OPERATIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH SAID DISTRIBUTOR MEMBER, SPRING MEANS URGING SAID DRIVING ELEMENT TOWARD SAID DRIVEN ELEMENT, COOPERATIVE DRIVE FACES ON SAID DRIVING AND DRIVEN ELEMENTS SLOPED TO SHIFT SAID ELEMENTS AXIALLY APART WHEN SAID DRIVEN ELEMENT ENCOUNTERS RESISTANCE EXCEEDING A PREDETERMINED AMOUNT, COOPERATIVE RELEASE FACES ON SAID DRIVING AND DRIVEN ELEMENTS IN PROXIMATE TRAILING POSITION WITH RESPECT TO SAID COOPERATIVE DRIVE FACES, SAID RELEASE FACES BEING PITCHED TO INDUCE COUNTERROTATIVE MOVEMENT TO SAID DRIVEN ELEMENT WHEN SAID DRIVER AND DRIVEN ELEMENTS ARE SHIFTED TOWARD EACH OTHER WITH SAID RELEASE FACES IN ENGAGEMENT. 